The University of Montana Western Bulldogs were road warriors for the third straight weekend traveling to Billings, Mont., and Dickinson, N.D. The men dropped the first game of the road trip to Rocky Mountain by a score of 83-73. They were then able to pick up the big win over Dickinson State with a score of 86-75 on Saturday.

Bulldogs Jake Owlsey and Jordan Overstreet - photo by Jim WoodillThe Bulldogs are currently tied with two other teams for second place in the Frontier Conference, Westminster and Great Falls, with 6-4 conference records. UGF must still take on Montana Western in the Bulldogs final regular season home game on the Feb. 15. The two teams tied atop the conference, Rocky Mountain and Montana State-Northern, both have to visit Montana Western the next two weeks.

On Thursday UMW suffered a ten point loss to the Battlin’ Bears in Billings by a score of 73-83. The Bears forced 19 Bulldog turnovers and had 14 steals on the evening. RMC shot 82.8 percent from the free-throw line converting on 24 of 29 attempts, while the Bulldogs shot 60.9 percent making 14 of 23. The Bulldogs hit the boards and outrebounded RMC grabbing 13 more boards. UMW was able to grab 18 offensive rebounds to just four for the Bears.

The UMW men were led by Maazin Butler’s 20 points. Jake Owsley also had a solid game for the Bulldogs adding 17 points making eight of 11 field-goal attempts while grabbing 8 boards. RMC’s Tyree Anderson led all players with 27 points. The Bears received big games from Joel Barndt who scored 19 points while grabbing nine boards and Jeremy Nicolas dropped 17 points on the Bulldogs.

UMW's Gabe Rucker - photo courtesy Jim Woodill PhotographyThe road-weary Bulldogs then traveled farther east to take on the Blue Hawks from Dickinson State in another Frontier Conference tilt. UMW was shooting well from behind the arc making 40 percent of their attempts. Maazin Butler, again, led the team in scoring with 22 points making four three-point shots. Gabe Rucker came up big with 14 points and five assists. Jordan Overstreet bounced back and had 12 points while grabbing seven defensive rebounds. Jake Owsley had 11 points and 8 rebounds in another solid performance. The Blue Hawks were led by Ty Ackleson who had 18 points on the evening. DSU’s Mackenson Odenier had 15 points while pulling down eight rebounds and Tevin Russell had 10 points.

The Bulldogs return home to take on both Rocky Mountain and Dickinson State next weekend. The Bulldogs tip off versus RMC Friday night at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday they host the Blue Hawks and tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m. Both games can be seen online at http://www.livestream.com/westernbulldogs.